Apparently, leading one of the most successful chapters of the Founder Institute and managing one of Canada’s most innovative accelerators, Extreme Accelerator, simply isn’t enough for Sunil Sharma, who is now taking on the role of managing director at Techstars Toronto.
The Toronto program of TechStars is the first Canadian expansion of the Boulder, Colorado-based accelerator, which has recently been granted the ability to grant startup visas as part of a government program that allows entrepreneurs to become permanent Canadian residents if a Canadian vc fund or angel group invests in their company.
Based on his extensive entrepreneurial experience, Sharma is clearly well-suited for his new position, and for David Brown, co-founder of Techstars, hiring Sharma was a no-brainer, saying:
[In the managing director role], we look for entrepreneurial experience of some kind – whether that’s investing, founding a startup, or working in a function where you’re advising entrepreneurs.
Before joining TechStars Toronto, Sharma has served as a board member for numerous Canadian startups, including Fulfil.io, Blanclink, Picatic, Nityaa Labs, and others, and has invested in such companies as Flow Water and Overbond. Sharma has also served as a co-organizer for Startup Weekend Toronto. With considerable expertise in mentoring and investing in promising tech companies, Sunil Sharma has established himself has one of the top luminaries in Canada’s ever-growing startup scene.
Of course, even though Sunil Sharma can expect his role with TechStars Toronto to take up much of his time, he will still be leading the Toronto chapter of the Founder Institute, which is currently accepting applications. If anything, Sharma plans to use what he’s learned from his time with the Founder Institute to help lead a successful TechStars Toronto program, especially when it comes to diversity, saying:
It’s about making sure that anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur is able to. I want to see diversity from the beginning; our program manager hire, the companies we recruit, and the community we build.
The Canadian startup scene is lucky to have entrepreneurial figures like Sunil Sharma shepherding its next generation of entrepreneurs - whether he’s with TechStars, the Founder Institute, or any of the myriad other projects he’s involved with.
